The current research projects of the IAW's Department of Prehistoric Archaeology take place in Switzerland, the Alpine region, Southern Europe and the digital space. The focus is on the study of social practices, transformations and economies of early agrarian communities of the last 8,000 years. Topics include in particular mobility, land use, vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to changing environmental conditions of these societies. The research projects investigate settlement remains under water in lakes and bogs, explain settlement spaces and burial rituals and use extensive digital data sets. Interdisciplinary cooperation with disciplines such as biology (palaeoecology) and geology (geochemistry) is a central part of these research projects. We would like to thank the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the European Research Council (ERC) for funding the projects.
